Those close to you
by Goateeman
Summary: When a middle aged survivor is on the verge of suicide, he finds a relic from his old life, his daughter. Only now, she's a bit..."different"
1. In the beginning

Those close to you

Its been about a month since the outbreak of the green flu. The government, CEDA, and everyone else said that the green flu was a simple "Influenza mutation." They said that getting the yearly flu vaccine would work just fine. But in the coming weeks, everyone saw that a mere vaccine could not fix what was to come. The first week was when everything shut down. Schools, businesses, and even the government were out of commission . This was also when my wife Mary and my daughter Victoria contracted the disease. Fortunately, I never got sick. I was immune, but that meant I had to take care both of them, with very little supplies. At one point I had to steal from the supermarket, just for some canned food. I was nearly caught, but escaped none the less. Even with their sickness, the two girls were still optimistic about the whole thing. Victoria would constantly ask me if she could go to her friend's house.

"Come on dad, just let me see my friends down the street. They have the flu too, so how much damage could I possibly do?" Victoria begged, Her sixteen year old self wanting to be free from the bondage of bed and constant stale indoor air.

"Look Victoria I'd love to, but there have been reports of multiple people being beaten to death out there. Some people say its because of the flu, screwing with their minds. The last thing I need is for you to get hurt, or worse. If I can get the Wifi back up, you can Skype to your friends all you want."

"Thanks dad. I Love *cough* you. Just hurry please, pretty please?"

" Okay, I'll get on it as soon as I can, I love you baby, now get some rest. Its late." I closed her bedroom door and and walked into the living room. Mary was sitting on the couch, watching the news about how the government shut down...again. I sat next to her and listened to her tangent about the government shutting down

"Goddammit it hasn't even been one year and the government is shut down again." Mary grunted in annoyance.

"You feeling alright?" I said, trying to get her mind off all the horrible news she was watching.

"I am now since you walked in." She said, kissing me on my cheek.

"Hey Jack" she said "I want you to keep and eye on Victoria." Her request worried me, so I turned off the TV and let her explain.

"Whats wrong with her, besides the constant diarrhea and snot rags?" I asked.

"Well, she been complaining that the lights are hurting her eyes. She refuses to open her curtains, and keeps wearing the same hoodie everyday, always wearing the hood."

"Yeah, I noticed actually. Anything else?"

"Shes getting really skinny. I mean, _REALLY_ skinny. Borderline anorexia by the looks of it."

"Okay. Well, you're not to good either. I'm no doctor, so all I can recommend is for both of you to eat more." Mary put her hands on my shoulders and looked directly into my eyes and said

"Jack, we _NEED _to get to the hospital." she said " Eating more isn't going to help us. We need real medical help."

" There is nothing I would love to do more. But I saw, and you saw too, on the TV that the hospital so packed, that the hospital staff had to install more seats outside just to accommodate everyone_._ But trust me, I'll go through hell and back to see that you and Victoria are taken care of."

"That determination. That's why I love you." I kissed her one the cheek, and went to my room. It was late, 11:00 P.M. Mary said that we shouldn't sleep in the same bed, she said I might get infected, even though i kept telling her i was immune . I couldn't sleep that night. I was acting tough for them, but deep down I was scared. I had never seen Mary or my baby girl in such a bad condition. As I laid there all alone, I had images in my head of burying the two of them in the back yard.

"Come on Jack, don't think of such things. Everything will be okay, everything _WILL BE OKAY!_" I whispered to my self. After praying to every god I could think of for help, I finally dozed off into a deep slumber.

Over the next few days, Mary and Victoria's condition worsened. Mary out right wouldn't respond to me talking to her, even if I was standing three feet away from her. Victoria was even worse. During the rare times she would leave her room, she had sudden episodes of rage, followed by massive guilt. One of the times she did this, she called me a good-for-nothing lazy prick and scratched me on my arm just because we didn't have enough food. I couldn't blame her. I knew my baby girl isn't like. It was the damn flu. Once she realized what she said to me, she ran back to her room, crying. She constantly yelled "I'M SOOOOOOO SORRY DAD!" I went up to her door, but it was locked. I stood outside the door, trying to calm her.

"Victoria please calm down. Its okay. You didn't hurt me." I Softly said

"YES I DID!" she screamed. "YOU'RE BLEEDING FOR GOD'S SAKE DAD!" she said, breaking into more tears. She was right actually, and it was a bit deep too.

"I'M A FREAK. OH GOD, I CAN ACTUALLY SMELL THE BLOOD!" right at that moment, something in me snapped. I let my fatherly instincts take over. I was sick and tired of my baby girl being in so much pain and suffering. So I picked up booby pin on the ground right in front of her door and used it to pick the lock. I opened the door, only to welcomed with a hiss. Victoria grabbed the hood of her hoodie and pulled it over her entire face.

"Stay...stay away dad... I might hurt you...again.." I rapped my arms around Victoria who was sitting on her bed, pulled her hood off of her face, and gave her a mini speech.

"Look at me Victoria, you are no freak. I love you. This damn disease that's making you outburst. Its not your fault. And don't you think for a goddamn second that I don't love you. I'm taking you and your mother, and I'll get you all the help you need. Before we do that though, just let it all out. I'll stay here as long as you need." She went limp, and quietly sobbed into my chest. I sat there with her for a good half hour before we left for the hospital. I don't think I had ever been so loving before with her since she was little. When she was done, I got up, and got Victoria and her mother into my truck, and drove off to the hospital. The trip was mostly quiet, until Victoria told me something that scared me straight to my core.

"Dad, if I die from this stupid flu, I just want you to know.." I stopped her mid-sentence and said

"Don't say things like that Victoria. I will make sure you'll be fine, or _I'LL _die trying to do so." She looked down to the floor, and but the hood of her hoodie over her head. I didn't need that image in my head while i was driving, I had to concentrate on the road. I noticed there were numerous abandoned cars on the side of the road. I knew everything bad, but no this bad. There was no traffic, and that worried me. I felt like I was doing something wrong, or that I was being watched. I looked up at one of the buildings and saw someone up there, with what seemed like smoke radiating from his body. I couldn't tell, he was too far away to get a good look at. We finally reached the hospital and went inside, to find a surprisingly few amount of people were their. Of the few people there, there was a hillbilly with a giant tumor on his right arm, or was is actual arm? There was a fat man, constantly puking into a bag that looked nearly full, and a humpbacked midget constantly talking to himself. I walked up to the receptionist and checked in.

"Name please." she said, wearing a cough mask.

"Jack Greenwall." I said.

"Age?"

"42" I responded. Hell am I really that old?

" Is there anyone else you would like to check in with?"

"Yeah, my daughter Victoria and wife Mary."

"Is your daughter a minor?" she asked

"Yes, why?" I asked in return

"Minors are a first priority here. A doctor will be with you shortly." I let out a breath our relief as we sat down. Maybe things would be okay after all. Since the seats had no dividers, I guess to seat more people, Victoria laid down, resting her head on my lap. As we waited for the doctor, she pointed out a man sitting in the very back of the waiting room. A young man, probably early 20's. He was short, maybe around 5'8, and wore a light gray hoodie, with the hood over his eyes.

"He's cute" Victoria said quietly.

"I don't see what you see in him. Literally. I cant even see his face."

"Well, he's still cute in my opinion." The man looked over to us, I felt Victoria tense up.

"Oh my god, he looked at me."

" *sigh* Girls." I said to myself. After a few more minutes of waiting, a doctor called on us. He escorted us to his office and he started a medical exam on all three of us. I went up first. He measured my height, 5'11, and my weight 150 pounds. I noticed I was skinny too. As I looked into the mirror in front of the scale I saw that my hair had bits of gray in them. My usual all brown, short cut hair was fading away from all the stress of caring for my two greatest priorities. My goatee was still black, so I guess that's a plus. The doctor did the same to Victoria and Mary, and gasped at how little they weighed. Victoria was a staggering 108 pounds, and Mary was a slightly better 114 pounds.

"Its a miracle you two are still walking" He said, entering the data into his computer. While he entered the data I noticed Victoria's hair was a different color.

"Hey Victoria" I said "Did you dye your hair?"

"No, why?"

"Your hair is black." She grabbed the long, straight hair dangling from her head and saw that I wasn't kidding.

"Well you always said you wanted black hair." I chuckled, masking the fact that I was worried. Did this "flu" have any limits? The doctor finished entering the data into his computer and pulled out some syringes from a locked cabinet.

"Okay, now I need to take blood samples from the three of you." He said, getting his syringe ready. Victoria cringed, and squeezed me with surprising strength. I made her let go of me so I could have my blood taken. I let the doctor do his thing, clean my shoulder and what not, and he took some blood. He rapped my arm with some bandages and moved on to Mary. Still unresponsive to everything around her, the doctor held up her arm with one hand and drew blood with the other. Now it was Victoria's turn. She always hated needles, ever since she was six, when a nurse was impatient and jabbed a needle straight into her arm. I held her arm and doctor began to draw blood. The next that happened was almost unbelievable.


	2. Good grief

Those close to you chapter 2

As the doctor readied the needle, I observed Victoria's...odd behavior. For one she was holding on to me for dear life. I knew she hated needles, but afraid, I had no idea. It was quite childish actually, but I let her cling to me. The girl had been in so much pain before I would act the same way if even more pain was introduced into the equation. I looked down at her, and looked at her eyes. Those...eyes. They were a tint of gold, unlike their usual blue-green color. They also showed fear, immense fear. But why? It was a simple blood draw, she had them since she was a little kid. Or was it something else, something more serious. The doctor was ready, and walked up to us. She reluctantly pulled up the sleeve of her hoodie and the doctor cleaned the area with a cotton ball coated with alcohol. The doctor then began to draw blood. Victoria squeezed me with her other arm with surprising strength. The whole "ordeal" was over in just a couple of seconds. The doctor walked out of the office with the three blood samples, I guess to test them. I looked at Victoria and asked her why she was so afraid.

"Hey Victoria." I said, nudging her.

"Yeah Dad?" She asked with a slightly raspy voice.

"I know you weren't that afraid of that shot, I know there's another reason or two as to why you're so tense. Come on baby, fill me in."

"Uh...I cant. I don't want you to think I'm crazy."

"Tell me anyway, I can handle it." I said, putting my arm around her.

"Okay...*Takes deep breath* Dad, you smell delicious."

"Uh, like my cologne?" I said, obviously confused for a second

"No dad, _YOU _smell delicious. There's this voice in the back of my head saying 'attack this old bastard and savor his warm juices'" I didn't know how to respond to that. But she continued.

"But there's this other voice in my head telling me to 'protect the pack leader at all costs.' I feel like a damn animal dad, and its scaring the piss out of me. That's why I'm afraid." I pulled my arm from her.

"Please don't be afraid of me dad, I can smell that also, and makes you smell even more appetizing. No Victoria, don't say that! He's the pack leader, he's family! We don't do that to family." I panicked. What was going threw her mind? I didn't time to think about it though, because the office door was kicked down by a team of armed men in yellow hasmat suits.

"GET DOWN ON THE GROUND!" one of them yelled. I did as he ordered, so did Victoria.

"What the hell are you doing?!" I said as one of the five men who restrained me, but he didn't answer. He and another man picked me and carried me out of the office.

"Let me go you yellow pricks!" I yelled being dragged across the hallway, They lead me down a flight of stairs to what seemed like the basement. Before we descended, I heard a Gunshot.

"VICTORIA?!" I screamed. One of the two men chuckled

" She's dead now ya' deadbeat."

"You son of a BITCH!" I scram as I elbowed the man in the stomach. He lost his grip and I took the opportunity to force his M-16 out of his hand. I grabbed him like you would a human shield and held the rifle with my other hand at the other hazmat man. The other man dropped his weapon and dropped to his knees. I gave him a sadistic smile as I unload six rounds into him.

"Jesus Christ man!" My hostage said.

"You'll end up just like him if you don't tell me what the hell you guys are doing here!" I said.

"Okay okay, I'll explain."

" What are you doing here? Who are you?" I asked in the calmest voice I could.

"Were part of CEDA. We were ordered to exterminate those with special virus mutations!" He said, hoping that would be enough to please me.

"Elaborate."I said.

"Okay. The 'special infected' are those with specially mutated versions of the green flu. It turns them into slightly more dangerous zombies."

"Zombies?" I said, pressing the barrel against his head.

"Don't you see man. This isn't no regular flu. The flu, it...it changes people into zombies I'm sorry, please don't shoot the messenger."

"Okay... I can come to grips with that. But none of this why you and your friends are here."

"We got a call from the hospital saying that there was a confirmed special there. And we were ordered to exterminate it at any cost. It just to happened to be your daughter"

"Well you've been very helpful to me, but your not anymore."

"WAIT..." I pulled the trigger of my new rifle, and killed the man. I looked in one of his suit pockets and found a "infected identification chart." I placed it in my jacket and focused on the matter at hand.

"I need to get back to Victoria and Mary." I said, running up the stairs. I got back to the doctors office, but the door was closed. I looked down at the door to find blood leaking through the crack at the bottom. I forced myself to open the door, and found absolute carnage. The three other CEDA guys on the ground dead, with their insides exposed or missing all together. I stepped over them, trying not to vomit. I looked over to the seats where I was sitting, and found Mary slumped over...with a bullet straight threw her head.

"No, not her too. First my daughter, now this?!" At that moment my legs began to weaken. I exhausted, both physically and mentally. I ignored these feelings and focused on Mary. I picked up her lightweight corpse and looked into her lifeless, gray eyes. They used to be the prettiest shade of green. I felt the tears run down my face, but no crying, I was too tired. I placed her down on the bed in the doctor's office, and said my final goodbye. The grief was too much for me to handle. I backed into the wall opposite the wall and fell down on my ass. I knew that at any moment I would pass out. But before I did, I heard something enter the room. I forced myself to look up, and saw Victoria, crouched on all fours, with her hands and mouth covered in the blood of the CEDA agents that laid mere feet away from me. Was she going to eat me? I thought that, but not for long, because I passed out a few seconds later.

**(3rd person)**

Victoria stood there on her hind legs, puzzled as to why the pack leader was sleepy. They couldn't rest now. They had to find a den first, there they could rest. Victoria shaked Jack, trying to get him to wake up, but that didn't work. Victoria thought something was wrong. She smelled her beloved pack leader to see if his emotional statewas compromised. She smelled fear, and distress. So much so, that it must be the reason he passed out. Yes, that's what happened! Victoria had no choice but to carry him. We was quite bigger then her, but her new found strength would help. She picked him up, and placed him on her back like a backpack. She climbed to the big window at the far end of the office, and broke it open with her elbow. She was greeted with the smell of rotting corpses and burning metal. She tensed up her legs and leaped, fifty feet away from the hospital. Once she landed she surveyed the area. She landed in the next door park. She admired the beautiful autumn colors of the trees, and the overall feel. But those walking corpses were there, and gave her a dirty look. There was a complete lack of self-awareness in the common infected. All they "lived" for was food. But why were they looking at _her_? She wasn't food, wait, were they focused on the pack leader? Yeah, they were. She wouldn't let them hurt him. She charged her jump again, and leaped another fifty feet, onto an abandoned car on the street. She noticed that in the distance, were very tall structures. They were so high up, they'd make great dens. It was decided, by her alone, that one of those tall buildings would be their den. She leaped again, and again, until she arrived in the city an hour later. Those buildings were further away then she thought. She stood on top of an apartment building, looking up at the tall structure with extreme interest. She needed to get there, but it was getting dark, and she was exhausted from carrying Jack all the way to where they were. She had to settle for the apartment building. She broke into a fourth story bedroom, and climbed in. The person who lived there before must have liked it dark. Black wallpaper, posters of various hard rock and metal bands, and a blood splattered bass on the ground. She felt welcome here. She placed Jack on the bed and sat next to him. She was hungry, and Jack looked appetizing. No! She wouldn't do that to the pack leader. He raised her since she was a pup for god's sake! She decided she'll get food in the morning. She laid down next to Jack, and soon fell into a nice slumber. But the slumber wouldn't be so nice soon.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE- Hey guys and gals, hope you're enjoying the story so far. I'm a little rusty on the whole writing thing, but it'll some back to me, it always does. I'll update the story every week on Saturdays. I decided to upload this on Thursday night, because I'm nice like that. Reviews are always welcome. Cheers!- Goateeman **


	3. An odd couple

Those close to you chapter 3

As soon as Victoria fell asleep she was plunged into a world of darkness. As she fell from the sky, she saw no ground, and feared for her life. Then, she hit the unseen ground. Shockingly, she felt no injury. As she got up and and tried to wrap her head around what just happened, she saw nothing, complete darkness. Victoria panicked, and screamed. She was shocked to discover the sound that emanated from her throat. A loud, piercing shriek more akin to a wild predator than a small sixteen year old girl. Victoria was petrified with fear. What was happening? Why was this happening? As she thought this she heard something behind her. She turned around to see a single light bulb suspended in mid air, and underneath it was an oval mirror the size of Victoria. She looked into it to find a nasty hooded figure, covered in dry blood with gray skin. She looked at herself, and saw none of those horrific features. The monster in the mirror chucked.

"Who...who are you?" Victoria said nervously. The hooded figure gave her a toothy grin, revealing long and sharp fangs. The figure crouched down, and jumped. The beast flew out of the mirror and onto Victoria. When the two landed on the unseen ground, it gave away, the two were in a free fall. Now it was absolute darkness. Victoria screamed one last time before she fell to more unseen ground. This abrupt landing was enough to wake Victoria from her nightmare. She sat up, breathing heavily. She slumped over next to jack, and held one of his arms for comfort. When she did this, Jack also woke up.

"Huh...OH JESUS!" Jack pulled away from Victoria and fell out of the bed.

"STAY AWAY!" Jack yelled, picking up the bass from earlier. Victoria, confused, crawled out of the bed and towards Jack.

"Oh screw it, I can't hit my own daughter." Jack dropped the bass and fell to his knees. Victoria felt more distress than ever coming off of Jack, she had to help him somehow. She crawled up to him, and hugged him, hoping it would comfort him like it would when he did to her when she was a pup.

"What...the..." Jack was completely puzzled. Why was a zombie hugging him? Why was he in this room? Just, why? Jack pushed these thoughts out of his head and embraced Victoria's attempts at calming him. His little girl wasn't lost, and he was happy. He stood up and collected himself.

"Victoria, can you understand me?" Jack said, hoping for a response. Victoria nodded her head.

"Can you speak?" Jack said. Victoria shook her head with disappointment.

"Okay, I think we can make this work. Just stay close to me when we go out there." Jack began to search the apartment room for anything of use. He found a bottle of pain pills and a med kit in the bathroom. He looked around some more and found an aluminum baseball bat in a closet opposite the bed. The last thing that caught his attention was a pamphlet on the kitchen counter. Jack picked it up and read the title.

"Official CEDA infected identification chart. Well this will be useful." Jack read about the eight different kinds of "special" infected as well as the normal infected. He found out that Victoria was a "hunter" and that he did not want to encounter a "tank." Jack put the pamphlet in his jacket pocket and walked to the door.

"You ready Victoria?" Jack asked. Victoria nodded. Jack took a deep breath and opened the door. He looked left and right before exiting. He walked to the left down a hallway that had a staircase. He walked down the hallway and the stair case and eventually got to the lobby. Still, he saw no one. Jack was getting nervous. Jack looked around the lobby and saw a vending machine. Since he was a bit hungry he decided to have a snack. He broke the glass and took a bag of chips, and a bottle of water.

"You want anything Victoria?" Jack asked. Victoria shook her head.

"Oh yeah I forgot, you're a carnivore now." Jack put the food items in his remaining pockets and went for the doors that lead outside. He opened them and was greeted with the smell of death. Jack coughed from the smell. He sucked it up and walked down the street. How did he get in the city? What bothered him more was the fact that there weren't any infected around. He expected a bunch of them. The duo walked some more and came across an alley way. Jack peered down the alley to find a dead body, and next to it, a tactical shotgun.

"Score!" Jack ran down the alley and collected the shotgun. He looked at the corpse and saw it had been eaten. Bite and claw marks suggested a mauling. Jack was about to leave when he heard a growl behind him. He turned around to see a hooded figure crouched down, with blood om his hands and mouth.

"HUNTER!" Jack yelled as he raised his new weapon. The hunter pounced on him, knocking the weapon out of his hands. The hunter raised his clawed hand, ready to strike, but jack was able to kick him off. Jack gave the hunter a taste of his own medicine and tackled him. He turned the hunter on to his stomach and held down its arms. The hunter snarled and growled, trying to break free. Jack looked around for a weapon, and saw a small pocketknife sticking out of the hunter's jean pocket. He grabbed it and put it against the hunter's throat. Before jack was able to deliver the final blow he noticed something about the hunter. Short stature, a light gray hoodie, Jack has seen this guy before.

"Wait a minute, you're that guy from the hospital that Victoria said was cute. Well you wont be so cute when I gut you like a deer." Jack was mere centimeters away from piercing the jugular vein when his knife was knocked out of his hand by...Victoria.

"Victoria, what hell are you doing?!" Jack yelled.

"No, you can't be serious, you _STILL _like this guy, even after he tried to eat he?! Victoria nodded and tried to pull Jack off of the hunter.

"Let go dammit! Look, if he's sane like you, I Won't kill him, okay?" Victoria let go of Jack's arm, and Jack pulled the hunter to his feet. He pushed the hunter against the wall and questioned him.

"Can you understand me?" With a frown, the hunter nodded .

"Look at me, my daughter likes you, I don't see why, but she does. You can tag along with us, _IF _you promise not to eat me. And so help me God if you harm a single hair on Victoria I will hang you from the tallest tree, understand?" The hunter nodded, and Jack let him go. The trio left the alley and continued to walk through the city. The three came across a McDonald's and the two hunters were excited. The two leaped into the building, leaving Jack behind. He caught up with them and saw them rummaging through the food behind the counter. They were looking for one thing, and one thing only, meat.

**(Author's note) Hey guys, if you want to see the poster mentioned in the story, here's the link: art/L4D-Infected-ID-Poster-167715594. Enjoy, cheers!**


	4. A Possible Adventure

Those close to you chapter 4

I walked into the McDonald's, and was greeted by broken glass on the floor, turned over tables, and a few corpses of the former employes. Victoria and the hunter had already finished their scavenge of what little edible food was left: A few hamburger patties and week old fries. But the two still searched through out the restaurant, being curious like little puppies. I let Victoria explore by herself, I trusted that she wouldn't run off. But the other hunter, I was still uncomfortable with him. It felt like at any minute that either he would attack, or I would because I thought he would. As the two of us entered the play-place, the hunter broke the ice by pulling something out of his pocket and giving it to me.

"What's this, your wallet? Lets see: Credit card, Gamestop club member card, ten bucks, and your driver's license." I took the driver's license and found out just who this hunter really was.

"Brett Morris, age 22, height 5'11, eye color hazel. Well you learn something new everyday." I handed him back his wallet.

"So Brett, my daughter seems into be into you." I said, only getting a nod in response. "You into her?" Again, the hunter nodded, this time adding a toothy smirk.

"Just promise me you two wont do anything crazy alright?" I asked. For a third time, Brett nodded.

"Its about to go, we need to get to..." I was then interrupted by a piercing scream, the hunter kind, and it sounded like it came from inside the restaurant. I ran out of the play-place and looked around, no sigh of anything that meant me harm. I looked down a hallway next to the cash registers, the bathrooms. I walked down there and looked into the male bathroom, nothing. I looked inside the female bathroom, and that's where I found Victoria balled up on the ground, sobbing into her hoodie. I, of course being a decent father ran to her side, trying to figure out what was wrong.

"Victoria, Victoria! Whats wrong baby? Come here, dad's here for ya'" I crouched down next to my daughter, she grabbed on to me, still sobbing.

"Shh, come on Victoria, show me whats wrong." Victoria pointed to the mirror, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

"There isn't anything on it Victoria, wait, do you mean your reflection?" I asked. She nodded her head and seemed to sob louder this time. It was at this time Brett entered the bathroom. He crawled next to Victoria, giving moral support I guess.

"Look Victoria, I know what you saw wasn't pretty, but listen to me. It doesn't matter, at all. Nobody is going to see or judge you for a long time. Now come on, we need to go." I helped her get up, and the three of us exited the restaurant, to explore the post-apocalyptic world, and the best part about: I was with Those close to me.

**A/N – Did ya' miss me? Now, I don't know if I will continue this story, but hey, maybe I will. Thank's for all the views, cheers! - Goateeman.**


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